In January, Goucher relocated from Portland, Oregon, to her college town of Boulder, Colorado, and resumed being coached by her college coaches, Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs. She had planned to return to track racing this spring and summer. But in March, while doing a workout of 10 500-meter repeats, "on the last one, I felt a twinge in my back," she told Runner's World Newswire. "I finished the workout and hobbled back and found it was a stress fracture."

Goucher responded by “cross training the whole time. I never took a day off because I’m crazy,” though her coaches limited her to 75 minutes a day. “I would ride the stationary bike all out,” she said, because that exercise was pain-free. “I was able to keep my sanity but not necessarily be in top shape.”

Five weeks ago, Goucher started running again on an AlterG treadmill, which allows users to run at a percentage of their body weight to lessen impact. She’s been running outside for slightly more than two weeks.

“I have no pain at all,” she said on Wednesday. “I’ve been surprised that I can run 6:45 to 7:00 [per mile] pace. My legs are fresh now. My longest run right now is 8 miles, and I also do 4 to 5 on the AlterG at night.”

Goucher’s marathon career includes thirds in New York City in 2008 and Boston[7] in 2009 and a best time of 2:24:52; her most recent marathon was a sixth-place 2:28:11 at Boston in 2013. Her last race was a fifth-place finish in the 10,000 at last June's USATF Championships. She broke a metatarsal in her right foot shortly after that meet, and had to cancel plans to run last November's New York City Marathon.

Her original plan for 2014 was to compete in the USA Track & Field Championships and some European track meets before running Chicago. Because of the sacral stress fracture, “we had put down that I had to be running on the ground July 1 to make a fall marathon, so we’re ahead of the game," Goucher said. "We’re better than where we thought we were going to be.”

She still is tempted by Chicago in October; “it might be nice to do something a little flatter” in her return to marathoning, she said. But “New York City gives me three more weeks [of preparation]. I’m kind of up in the air between the two. I need to make a decision in the next month or so.”

In this fledgling stage of her return to running, “it would be way too early to say I’m going to Chicago or New York City and I’m going to PR and I’m going to fight for the win,” Goucher said. “The overall goal is to make the team in Rio [de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics] and it’s not necessarily to rip a marathon in 2014. Heading into the year, that was absolutely the goal, but there’s been a curve ball and I’m kind of adjusting." Her fall marathon effort “might end up being just a solid step back instead of a huge race, but I won’t know that for a couple of months.”

For a pre-marathon competition, she might run the August 2 Beach to Beacon 10K in Maine, hosted by 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson[8]. “Let’s see what happens after the next month or so,” Goucher said. “Right now, I’m just building up mileage. My first race back probably won’t be crazy spectacular, but I know Mark and Heather won’t let me race unless I’m ready to race something respectable.”